User:Aerinaldi13/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article

This is where you will complete your article evaluation. Please use the template below to evaluate your selected article.

• Name of article: Commedia dell'arte
• Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
  • This is a class that focuses on Commedia dell'arte so it seemed logical to examine the wikipedia page on it to see if it contained useful and real information

Lead

Guiding questions

• Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
• Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
• Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
• Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?

Lead evaluation

The Lead of this article is well crafted, opening up with a brief description of the topic that clearly relates what the article is about. It also gives a brief outline of the article itself, containing enough information so as to give a briefing on the subject without going overly in depth and remaining concise.

Content

Guiding questions

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
• Is the content up-to-date?
• Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?

Content evaluation

The content in this art is up to date, relevant to the topic at hand, and all of the content that is listed is present in good quality and quantity. There does not appear to be any missing information that the article is in need of.

Tone and Balance

Guiding questions

• Is the article neutral?
• Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
• Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?

Tone and balance evaluation

The article is neutral and makes no heavily biased claims of any sort, giving no particular bias towards any viewpoints and representing them all equally. At no point does the article attempt to sway the reader, instead maintaining total neutrality.

Sources and References

Guiding questions

• Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
• Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
• Are the sources current?
• Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation

The facts in this article are backed up by a variety of secondary sources, and are very comprehensive, with many texts and websites on the subject being cited. The sources are current and the links to the different sources work, so there appear to be no faulty or misplaced sources.

Organization

Guiding questions

• Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
• Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
• Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?

Organization evaluation

The article is easy to read without excessively complicated language or phrasing and is well put together grammatically. The content itself is broken up into logical sections related to the subject, covering the major points that one would expect from an article about this subject.

Images and Media

Guiding questions

• Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
• Are images well-captioned?
• Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
• Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?

Images and media evaluation

The article does include images, all of which have clear and relevant captions. The images themselves adhere to copyright regulations, many of them being old renaissance paintings, and are laid out in a visually appealing way that does not ruin the article.

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Talk page evaluation

There are several conversations happening on the talk page, including some regarding the origin of Commedia, the characters and how they should be explained in the article, and the development of Commedia over the years. The article is rated C-Class, and it differs in a couple ways from how we've talked about it in class in that there's a lot more on the history of Commedia as well as the specific characters typically associated with Commedia Dell'arte. It is part of Wikiprojects Comedy, Italy, and Theatre.

Overall impressions

Guiding questions

• What is the article's overall status?
• What are the article's strengths?
• How can the article be improved?
• How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?

Overall evaluation

The article is well put together and gives a good overview of the subject, without any key missing parts that would lead to it being considered underdeveloped. It is well organized and contains several relevant sections, none of which are out of the blue or could more easily be put into another section. One improvement I think could be made would be to slightly decrease the degree of history mentioned in the lead, as it is a bit heavy on history, and as there is already a history section, it feels like it doesn't need to be as heavy in the lead.

Optional activity

• Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback

with four tildes — ~~~~

• Link to feedback:Talk:Commedia dell'arte